Pro Compression GIVEAWAY!!!

As many of you know by now, I am OBSESSED with socks...not just any socks though, they have to be Pro Compression socks.  It's never fun to obsess over something alone so I talked to the good folks over at Pro Compression and they are letting me host a GIVEAWAY...you're welcome.  Now you can become obsessed too, you and your muscles will thank me.

I used to work in a running store so I have tried quite a few different brands of compression but Pro Compression are by far my favorite.  Not only are they true graduated compression, meaning they are tighter at the bottom which helps with blood circulation, but they are super cute.  The more blood you can circulation around your muscles the better, it helps with performance and recovery time.

My very favorite thing to do is sleep in my Pro Compression Marathon Socks.  When running you can use either the marathon socks or the sleeves but for recovery you will want to stick to the socks.  While sitting for long periods of time the sleeves can cause blood to pool, ain't nobody got time fo' dat.  For you working types, they have just come out with the new dress sock, now you can recover from your tough workout without being too flashy.

They come in navy, khaki, black and light pink.

Recover like a champ!

There are some fun designs but people might think you strange walking around in florescent green socks with your business attire...although I have seen MUCH stranger things. 

Pro Compression also makes AMAZING low running socks.

I have a little bit (A LOT) of everything...

This picture was taken back at the beginning of the year so add about 10 more and we are up to date...at least for now.  It's all about the socks!!

 So here is your chance to try them for the first time or add to your growing collection.  You have until next Monday (August 4th) to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For those of you who want the latest in compression NOW you can use promo code BLG14 for 40% off any marathon socks or sleeves.

Saved By Sprinklers

This fine Friday morning started off with a very difficult 19 miler.  I realized this week that Holly and I should probably start training for the Top of Utah Marathon which is on September 20th.  9 weeks of training is enough right?  Okay, so we always run but we have not done a long run any further than 13 miles since our last marathon on June 1st.  

My ankle hasn't been my best friend lately and makes me go slower than I'd like, so I haven't really had the desire to go super far.  We decided that we would try the 19 miles and see how we felt.  I am already registered for the race but Holly is not, I didn't want her to pay for an entry if we weren't going to be ready for it.  My entry was free so if I had to back out I would be sad but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

We decided to join Jorge, Josh, Joanna, Heather and Pam on their 14 miler and then add on to get our 19.  Joanna's husband drove us up the right hand fork of Hobble Creek Canyon and we were off.  Today was one of those days where I felt like I didn't know how to run, I felt like my form was weird and I couldn't get into it.  I tried to go a bit slower because running downhill aggravates my ankle.  Going slow is great and all but it can sure get in your head, especially since running slower for the past 2 months has affected my fitness.  A pace that used to be super easy for me is now not so easy.  I was being very hard on myself so this run wasn't only hard physically but mentally as well.

Luckily I had some amazing views and friends to help me GET OUTTA MY MIND. 

Pam and I were trying to get close enough to get a picture but we kind of crashed and apparently I found it hilarious.  By the way, Pam is amazing and is my hero! 

Group shot!  Although we all ran at our own pace it was fun to see everyone...even if they were quite a ways in front of us.  Jorge decided to continue on with Holly and I for the full 19 miles.

I saw this on Hungry Runner Girl and LOVED it!  

I had been praying for sprinklers for a few miles and finally found some at Springville High, we had a great time running through them. 

Yeah Buddy...I'm a dork!

By the time we were done playing we were all soaking wet and feeling refreshed.  It's amazing how much better I felt after cooling down...it gave me the energy I needed to finish, rather than lay down and DIE! 

It's a good thing we found some neighbor kids to take a sweet shot of us. 

Pro Compression selfie.  Lots of tall socks and some shorties, I'm still trying to get rid of my tall sock tan line from Ragnar :) 

19 miles done and done!  I was actually pleasantly surprised by our overall pace, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. 

Jorge gave me this beautiful cupcake which I knew was at home waiting for me, it may or may not have been the only reason I finished...it was delicious!  Thanks Jorge

It's amazing to me what our bodies are capable of.  I felt like crap from the beginning but somehow I managed to finish 19 stinking miles.  I can't wait for next weeks 20 miler :/

You Never Know What You're Gonna Get!

Running likes to keep things exciting, one day you love it and the next day you want to hang up your running shoes and quit running FOREVER.  On July 12th, I paced the Hobbler Half Marathon and let's just say it wasn't my finest hour and fifty-five minutes.  

From the moment I woke up my tummy wasn't quite right but I figured it would pass and I would be fine. The first 4 miles were okay but once I ate my Shot Bloks things went downhill pretty dang fast.  I must have blocked this race out, all I remember is that at around mile 4 I ran ahead to the Honey Buckets, had to wait in line and then sprint to catch up with Holly and continue to pace the 1:55 group.  I got more miserable as time went by and by mile 11 I wanted to curl up in the fetal position and DIE!  I hated running and never wanted to do it again.  It's funny how quickly we forget things.

Starting line with Brenna and Holly....and some random citizen in deep thought. 

I may not look miserable but this was when I wanted to curl up and die. 

 I live in a pretty beautiful place!

And a quick pacer picture...I love all of these people.

I loved the race, I just really really really hated running that day.

This past Saturday I was really glad that I didn't quit running.  Holly and I paced the 1:55 group at the Timp Half Marathon.  This has always been one of my favorite races and this year was no different.  We were on one of the first buses and had a very entertaining bus driver.  It was 4 a.m. and the volunteers had little light sticks to direct runners.  After sitting on the bus for some time the cute little driver said to one of the volunteers, "I'm just waiting for you guys to start fighting with your little light sabers....wooom, wooom, wooom(that's supposed to be the light saber sound)."  The volunteer didn't hear her but Holly and I sure did get a kick out of it and from there on out we were trying to talk backwards like Yoda.

  A fast runner I am ;D

Funnily enough, that night my family and I went to a birthday party and they showed the Star Wars Lego Movie on their outdoor movie screen.  I was laughing my mane off the whole time and Kenna and Jake thought I was crazy. "See you I would, if sitting on me you weren't" Yoda.  Hahahaha

Before the race.

We had plenty of time to chat with everyone at the starting line as we got all the pacers ready.  From the very beginning we had quite the group of runners with us.  We chatted with a couple of gals (Alycia and Brittney) for the first 4-5 miles and then sent them on their way.  The course was very downhill so we had to hold back but we told them that if they were feeling good to go ahead.  The other gals stayed right behind us the entire time.

We caught up to Alycia a few miles later and tried to keep her with us.  She was struggling so I reminded her that her body was fine, it was her head that wanted to stop.  She kept falling behind just a little so we kept a close eye on her.  I didn't want to let her get too far behind, we were getting close and I knew she could do it.

This isn't the best picture ever but this was my favorite part of the race.  We ran on a little trail through tons of big trees, it was so pretty.

As soon as we were nearing the end I told Holly that I wanted to go back and get Alycia, she wasn't very far behind.  We both turned back for her telling everyone else to finish strong.  The three of us crossed the finish line in 1:54:47.

Me, Alycia and Holly

 Everyone else we were pacing finished right before us and Brittney finished in 1:52...go Brittney.

This was by far my favorite pacing experience and everything about the race was amazing.

The medals were amaze balls.

The full marathon medals were HUGE...like as big as my head.  They were awesome!

After all this running my Pro Compression socks and sleeves sure do come in handy.

Pro Compression has come out with some new products that I think you should try and the best news is that  you don't have to be a runner to enjoy them.

  Pro Compression dress socks!!!

AND brand new low trainers that I adore.

I have the green and black but I must have the pink.

You can use promo code NEW to get 40% off plus free shipping from now until July 31st.

Freedom Run 2014

Friday morning Jorge, Holly, my kids and I headed to Provo for the Freedom Run 10K.  This was Kobe's second time doing this race and McKenna's first time.  This is the only 10K I've ever done and I have done it for the past...I don't know, lots of years.  I kind of HATE shorter distance races but have found that I love running them with my kids.  This race can be quite entertaining because it runs along the 4th of July Parade route.  There are all sorts of crazy people out there, people who have been camping out through the night.  

On Wednesday's 3 mile run McKenna had quite a few aches and pains, her hip, gracilis, knee and ankle...pretty much everything hurt.  I worried that she wouldn't be able to run.  She decided she wanted to try and if need be she would stop at our parade spot which is a little before mile 4.  We used KT Tape on her inner thigh which lasted about 10 minutes, I kind of really hate that stuff.  How do people get that crap to stick?  Anyway, Kenna's goal was to come in under an hour, at least that's what she had told me a few days before and she wanted me to pace her to finish in that time.

Look at us all lined up in a row from tallest to smallest.

Jorge and Josh raced the 10K and Holly and I stuck with the kidlets. 

Kenna really needs to stop growing. 

Tall sock twins...looking good, hahaha!

I guess I wanted to add to my Pro Compression tan line, perma tall socks.  

 The gun went off and after walking for a bit we finally got past the starting line.  I tried to stay just a little bit in front of Kenna to keep her on pace, I noticed that whenever I slowed down to wait for her she would slow down too.  I stayed a few steps ahead and after we climbed the first hill I told her that we needed to catch Kobe and Holly who were just a little in front of us.  She wasn't speeding up, she had her ear phones in and had no interest in talking or really hearing what I had to say...teenagers ;D  I watched Kobe as he ran through all of the sprinklers, he is quite fun to watch run...he dances, skips, sings...all of it.

There they go! 

My favorite part of this race is seeing all of the hot air balloons.

Around mile 3 I told Kenna she was going to be really close to hitting her goal but that she would have to speed up just a little.  Apparently her goal had gone from sub 60 minutes to finishing without hurting herself.  I didn't realize she was in pain and felt bad for trying to pace her faster than she was wanting to go.  

At about mile 4 I could tell she was really hurting. 

 I could see Holly and Kobe and knew he would get under 60 minutes and hoped that wouldn't upset Kenna too much.  

Running selfie! 

Funny guy alright!

I thought that Kenna still had a pretty good chance of coming in close to an hour so the last mile I tried to speed up a little.  We were passing quite a few people and I think that helped push Kenna a little.  I knew she had more to give so at the finish I said, "Let's go, come on."  She sprinted into the finish and truth be told I could hardly keep up with her, she's a sprinter and I'm NOT.

 Jorge caught some sweet action shots of us sprinting to the finish.

She finished in 1:03:25 and Kobe finished in 1:00:00.  Holly said that Kobe ran so fast at the end that she thought he was going to go down, the kid was determined to finish in an hour.

 Congratulations buddy!

Thank you Holly for keeping Koko company on his run.

I can't remember Kobe's time from last year but I'm pretty sure he PR'd by about 10 minutes, go Koko!  Kenna did awesome and had never run further than 5 miles.  I can only imagine how fast she could have done it had she not been hurting.  I'm beyond proud of her for pushing herself and not walking at all, my kids are pretty dang awesome.

I sure do love these kids!

I'm a bit late telling you this but if you place an order for Pro Compression marathon socks or sleeves using promo code FOUR you will get 40% off plus free shipping, ends Sunday the 6th so get on it yo.  

Pro Compression has also come out with some women's workout leggings, use code LEG to get 30% off, I don't know how long that deal will go for so maybe just get on that one too.  I hope you all had a great 4th of July.

Wasatch Back Ragnar 2014

Wow, what an experience my fourth Ragnar turned out to be.  Pro Compression, my very favorite brand of compression socks, gifted us a team this year...thank you Pro Compression!!!  Holly, Jorge, Josh and I all knew we wanted to do an ultra.  We wrangled Jessica, Holly's sister in law, into joining us and even convinced Julia to join us.  This was Jessica's very first Ragnar, I am so impressed that Jessica was willing to do an ultra not knowing what a regular Ragnar was like.  She is a brave woman.
We had a 9:15 a.m. start time...perfect!  Holly was up first and then it was my turn.  Holly and I have pretty horrible luck when it comes to the weather when we are doing a race.  This time we got extremely lucky, both Holly and I had perfect running conditions for all of our runs...hallelujah!

AutoMaxx let use this Suburban...we like to call it the Beast.
Jake was not only our driver but at times our photographer.

Team Pro Compression
Josh, Jorge
Jessica, Holly, Me, Julia and our driver Jake #allofthejs
We decided that Holly should be Jolly and I should be Jeph...just so we could fit in.

#keepittight
I went into this run extremely worried that it would end up like last years, you can read about that HERE.  My left ankle had been bothering me a bit, luckily I found out last Saturday that running slow helped a lot.  I had gone on a 10 mile run with Holly and felt my ankle A LOT.  I then ran 5 slow miles with  my kids and I felt nothing.  I had to tell myself repeatedly that it was better to run slow and  finish uninjured than to run my normal pace and end up hurt.  I watched my Garmin quite closely, not to keep a fast pace but to keep a safe pace.  Maybe that's why this was such a great experience, I took my time and actually enjoyed the scenery and the fact that I was able to run.  My first run started close to 11:20 p.m.

I don't think the 6.7 miles was "hard" all I know is that it was beautiful.

More beauty!

The cloud cover made the temps perfect and there was a tiny drizzle from time to time.

Holly got some action shots of my first run.



Did you notice how cute my shoes are?  Josh did and pointed it out every chance he got...I think he may have been making fun of me a little but that's okay.  I took my family to Utah Run to pick up the new Saucony Kinvara 5's for my birthday.

They are heavenly...see they glow :)
I believe I got 27 kills in those 11 miles.
I was very good about doing my dynamic stretches after each run and drinking my Tru Moo, after my last run I said forget chocolate milk I want Dr. Pepper...and that's what I had.

He's da man in da pan! 

Julia during her super hard first run.  Luckily the rain made this part much better than usual because it wasn't so dusty.  She rocked it!  I'm so grateful for the friends I have met through running.

My second run started pretty close to 9 p.m.



  I ran the first part alone and convinced Jake to join me on my 4.2 easy mile run, he doesn't really run but he was nice enough to join me anyway.  I married a good man :)  I got 46 kills.  I ended feeling great!
We got a little bit of sleep while Jorge did his crazy long 19 mile night run.
My final run started at 9:15-ish Saturday morning with perfect weather, it got a little warm by the end but nothing crazy.  We really lucked out this year.

Running much slower this year made this leg so much better, I didn't have to walk at all except through the water stations.

I held back a lot on the huge downhill because downhill running is what causes me problems with my calfs.

Jake ran me into the exchange to finish off my Ragnar. 81 kills on my last leg...yeah buddy! I felt amaze balls and had so much fun.

Dr. Pepper for the win!!

I'm so thankful that Jake joined us on this grand adventure.  He is the best! 

We are just like 2 people :)

Let's finish this thing but first let's take a weezie!

Just a little gun show, we had to show you how cute our shirts were.  Utah Run made them for us and we love them.

The view at the top of Ragnar Hill is amazing.

We chatted with the Pro Compression gal for a bit, I believe her name is Suzanne and she is as cute as can be.  She gets to travel all around for Pro Compression...lucky!

We finally finished...YAY!!!  Julia had to leave after her third leg, we were sad to see her go.

Outtake numero uno with Nacho...Jake and Jess wondering what the heck Nacho was doing.

Outtake numero dos with Nacho...Holly and Josh wondering what the heck Nacho was doing.

And there's the money shot :)
We had so much fun but I was told at the beginning of Ragnar that what happens in the burb stays in the burb so all I will say is YUP! :D

This was by far my favorite Ragnar!  I loved everyone on our team, we all got along and there wasn't any drama.  We had a few set backs at exchanges that slowed us down a bit but everyone did their best and had fun doing it. Everyone on my team amazed me but Jessica REALLY amazed me.  She was awesome, not only was she entertaining but she did an ULTRA on her first Ragnar...and the girl can twerk like you wouldn't believe.